Hello and welcome to The Original Pillow with a Hole.
We first started putting holes into pillows back in 2014, first as a partnership, then as a company in 2016. Its an absolute pleasure to both have a hand in supporting our friends, family and local community, and also providing relief to so many people around the world.
My name’s Tim and I’m the person who runs this business. If you email us, the chances are that I’ll be the one to get back to you.
How the Original Pillow with a Hole began.
This all began long ago when my very clever and talented mother, Judy, was lucky enough to be on a trip to the Sahara Desert.
In the evenings she and the other guests would sleep in tents under a canopy of stars. A beautiful and wonderous thing, no doubt, but she’d been a life-long sufferer of ear pain and to her horror, instead of pillows to sleep on, she was given sandbags!
Judy had always had ear pain. For years she had been sleeping with her ear between the legs of a teddy bear for support.
In her words: “I’d never been able to get a peaceful night’s sleep on a normal pillow, so the thought of sleeping on a hard sandbag filled me with dread. However, I soon found that by poking a hole into the sandbag and creating a little pocket of air for my ear, I would not only be comfortable but I would be more comfortable than I’d ever been before.”
This got her thinking about she couldn’t wait to get home to work on some designs.
After returning home and with that experience in mind, she began to design and make prototypes of what became “The Original P.W.A.H®.”
Some designs were more successful than others, of course, but on her first night of trying out one of her prototypes, she was struck by the fact that she had slept on her side throughout the whole night and did not once wake in pain or discomfort. The following night she prototyped another pillow, and it was even better!
At first, I have to admit that I thought the concept was crazy! A pillow with a hole in it! What a silly notion. Yet, there was always the inkling that perhaps other people would benefit from these pillows, being as effective as they are, and so we set up business together and have been in business ever since.
Where The Original P.W.A.H® is made.
The Original P.W.A.H® is made in Liverpool, England.
First sewn by hand by Judy, then when we could afford a sewing machine, she made them on that. However, now, due to their overwhelming popularity, they are now sewn by local seamstresses in what is a true cottage industry, supporting many local people. After they are sewn, all pillows are stuffed, packaged and closely inspected to make sure they are going out in perfect condition.
If you have any issue at all with your pillow, feel free to contact us any time and we will make it right.
Below is a video showing how they’re made in our rather bohemian looking headquarters in The Baltic Triangle in Liverpool.
I of course had to put our dog, “The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen”, on here. Look at him. Just look at that dog. He’s nestled under a table amongst some loose stuffing in this photo.
We don’t drop much stuffing, but when we do, it isn’t picked back up and put in the pillow. We use it for other purposes, such as reupholstering furniture and vet bedding.
Take a look inside yours, it is guaranteed to be beautifully clean.
From the archives.
2013, Macclesfield, Cheshire.
The United Kingdom.
The Original Pillow With A Hole begins, as all such things do, as a single piece of fabric. Here you can see Judy holding up an *almost* completed yet completely empty pillow. We’d love to show you how we got from there to here but can’t due to the United Kingdom’s Official Secrets Act of 1989.
It has been a good few years since Judy has made a pillow herself, but she still loves to prototype new designs and play around with the fabric. See how joyous she is here peeping through the hole of one of her earliest designs!
This photo, from 2013, is truly one for the archives. She has grey hair now but don’t tell her I told you.
And here’s Judy as of February 2022, proudly clutching The Original P.W.A.H® as it is today.
Here are some more photos from the archives.
There’s Judy’s hand diligently finishing off the pillow ready for our Expert Pillow Stuffer, Rob, to begin his work. Rob has been working with us since the beginning and has become one with the stuffing.
I don’t know how he does it but he manages to find that perfect balance between support and comfort in every pillow.
We put plenty of stuffing in your pillow so that you have plenty to play around with. We have an integrated “YKK” brand zip which allows you to easily access the stuffing in order to add or remove it according to your tastes.
Through this method, the firmness of all of our pillows is easily alterable.
Speaking of stuffing, here’s an image of Rob stuffing a PWAH® with hypoallergenic coil-fibre.
Coil-fibre is synthetic fibre that is similar in density to down. We prefer this to memory foam as it provides a softer and more comfortable sleep. It also doesn’t “off-gas” as memory foam is known to do.
It is also much cooler, which is an important part of CNH management.
Furthermore it is also suitable for those suffering from allergies.
We also offer British wool as an environmentally friendly alternative.
Rob’s thoughtful stuffing ensures a uniform spread throughout the pillow ensuring there is no clumping or lumpy bits.
Hand stuffing ensures that The Original P.W.A.H® is fully stuffed in all four corners because there’s nothing worse than saggy corners.
Well done that man!
Once stuffed it is then zipped up and rigorously inspected.
After that, it goes into our recyclable plastic packaging and off it goes to you, dear reader.
Off they go! Made in England and dispatched to the entire world!
Thanks for reading!
Tim Leigh
Managing Director
The Pillow With A Hole Ltd
